Posted on 01/17/2014 9:45:03 AM PST by servo1969
An undercover television news story to test security in local schools triggered a lockdown Thursday at Kirkwood High, angering parents and raising questions about media ethics.
Students and teachers at the school were huddled in classrooms with the lights off for about 40 minutes Thursday afternoon after a man came into the school and asked to speak with security, then left.
The visit was one of five made by the television station to schools in the region aimed at exposing lapses in school security.
After hours of social media uproar, KSDK aired the news report at 10 p.m.
During the segment, the station showed how a staff member was unable to enter four schools unimpeded, but was able to walk right into Kirkwood High School, which had no buzzers at the door and whose entrance was not locked. The news report also questioned why the Kirkwood lockdown took place an hour after the reporter left the school building.
Even before the segment aired, KSDK used its 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. broadcasts to issue a statement standing by its reporting.
“This lockdown certainly was not the intent of our visit,” KSDK said in the statement, pointing out that the lockdown didn’t happen for an hour until after the reporter left. The station says the reporter “identified himself by name” to school officials. However, KSDK didn’t claim that he identified himself as a reporter.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
It may be worse than that for the station.
Criminal charges may be forthcoming along with demands for financial reimbursement.
Talk about a total backfire —
Reporter was John Kelly — comparing 4 elementary schools to one high school — apples to oranges:
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